DESPITE SETBACKS, FAMILY ALL FOR ARTIFICIAL HEART

United Press InternationalCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Despite three strokes that have stolen William Schroeder`s ability to speak, family members say they are glad he had the implant of an artificial heart a year ago Monday and would make the same decision again.

Schroeder`s wife, Margaret, said she has no doubts the experiment was worth it. Family members have never considered stopping medical treatment and pulling the plug on Schroeder`s life, she said.

''We haven`t even talked about it, because there is no reason to talk about it,'' she said in an interview. ''Until we are sure he can`t get better, that`s not something to discuss.''

Schroeder`s son Mel, 31, said: ''Basically, I wouldn`t tell anybody they shouldn`t go through with it (the implant).''

Schroeder and his wife planned to spend a quiet day in his hospital room Monday. Their children plan to celebrate Thanksgiving with their parents.

Margaret Schroeder requested a small reception for hospital staff members to thank them for the care they have given her husband, but she did not plan to attend.

The last year has been a series of ups and downs for the family from Jasper, Ind. After Schroeder received the heart on Nov. 25, 1984, at Humana Hospital-Audubon, his family watched with great hope as his condition improved.

The nation watched as Schroeder, 53, chatted with President Reagan by telephone, drank a beer and spoke about eventually going home.

But a stroke last December and a second in April left Schroeder and his family disappointed and frustrated. After the second stroke, Mel Schroeder described his father as aware of events but not necessarily able to understand their significance.

A third stroke on Nov. 11 drained much of Schroeder`s remaining strength and robbed him of his ability to talk.

After the latest stroke, as well as the recent death of Europe`s first implant patient, the developer of the Jarvik-7 heart, Dr. Robert Jarvik, criticized the heart`s construction, saying in a broadcast interview that ''it needs some work.''

The past year appears to have been especially trying for Margaret Schroeder, 52, who collapsed of exhaustion in September. She was sent home to Jasper to relax and regain her strength. She had been caring for her husband in a specially equipped apartment across the street from the hospital. But Schroeder was moved back to the hospital after his latest stroke.

Mel Schroeder said his mother has been under a great deal of physical and mental strain.

''She is just a dedicated person,'' he said.

The only other living Jarvik-7 heart recipient, Murray Haydon, 59, of Louisville, is still in Audubon`s intensive care unit and has required a respirator to aid his breathing daily since mid-March. Haydon also has suffered a stroke.

Leif Stenberg, 53, Europe`s first artificial-heart patient, died of respiratory and circulatory failure last week in Stockholm, eight months after he received his Jarvik-7 air-driven pump.

The Swedish real estate businessman was the fourth person in the world and the first outside the United States to receive a permanent artificial heart. Ten implants have been done in the United States since 1982.

Schroeder`s doctor, William DeVries, implanted the world`s first permanent artificial heart, also a Jarvik-7, in Seattle dentist Barney Clark, 62, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Dec. 2, 1982. Clark died 112 days later of multiple organ failure.